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Friday, October 7, 2016

Tashkent Grand Prix 2016 - Uzbekistan DAY TWO

Hosts Uzbekistan overtook Russia at the top
of the medal table at the Tashkent Grand Prix as they won three of the
four gold medals at stake on day two including history-making Gulnoza
MATNIYAZOVA (UZB) who became the first woman from Uzbekistan to win IJF
Grand Prix gold at the Uzbekistan Sport Complex on Friday.

The fourth edition of the Tashkent Grand Prix provided
their country’s first female gold medallist as Uzbekistan won gold in
the -70kg category while their men charged to victory in the -73kg and
-81kg categories.

Gulnoza MATNIYAZOVA has long been at the forefront of
her country’s women’s programme as a three-time Grand Prix bronze
medallist and is one of a new and exciting generation of young female
judoka who are changing the face of Uzbekistan judo.

The Judo Federation of Uzbekistan has an illustrious
men’s programme which was seen at the Olympics when they won two bronze
medals through Rishod SOBIROV and Diyorbek UROZBOEV and dates back to
current President Armen BAGDASAROV winning silver at the 1996 Olympics.

The home crowd were ecstatic after Uzbekistan excelled on day two

The country also starred at the Rio 2016 Paralympic
Games as they won 10 medals in judo including three bronze and one
silver from their women.

Uzbekistan were able to enter 27 women into the
Tashkent Grand Prix 2016 which is one less than the maximum they are
allowed to enter as hosts as they suffered a late injury. The 27-strong
contingent had a two-week training camp at the IJF Olympic Training
Centre in Tashkent before the competition and the results speak for
themselves. Youth is the key for Uzbekistan as the majority of those 27
judoka are still juniors and are slowly but surely emerging onto the IJF
World Judo Tour.

The Tashkent Grand Prix 2016 will conclude on Saturday
with the heavyweights as the men’s -90kg, -100kg and +100kg categories
will grace the two tatami along with the women’s -78kg and +78kg
categories.

Young fans celebrate with their heroes

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WOMEN

-63kg: Daria’s day as Russia win third gold medal in Tashkent

Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist Daria DAVYDOVA (RUS)
topped an IJF World Judo Tour medal podium for the first time as she
defeated Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Marijana MISKOVIC HASANBEGOVIC
(CRO) to win -63kg gold. MISKOVIC HASANBEGOVIC, who finished a
career-best seventh at the World Championships last year, is the oldest
judoka in the category in Tashkent but also the highest ranked. The
world number 23 from Croatia, who was beaten in the first round of the
Zagreb Grand Prix two weeks ago, fell behind to waza-ari from an
uchi-mata and battled until the end but was second best.

In the first semi-final MISKOVIC HASANBEGOVIC defeated
Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix bronze medallist Andreja LESKI (SLO). The
34-year-old Croatian beat the 19-year-old Slovenian with shime-waza as
an osoto-gari sent the youngster down to a horizontal base and the
veteran applied the okuri-eri-jime strangle to force the submission. In
the second semi-final DAVYDOVA beat little-known 23-year-old Mukhayyo
IBRAGIMOVA (UZB) by a waza-ari to guarantee one more medal for Russia
who started day two top of the medal table.

The first bronze medal was won by Tallinn European Open
bronze medallist Daniela KAZANOI (BLR) who defeated IBRAGIMOVA by a
yuko from an ouchi-gari. The result is a career-best for the 23-year-old
from Belarus who will look to become a mainstay on the IJF World Judo
Tour. The second bronze medal was won by LESKI over former Tashkent
Grand Prix silver medallist Hannah MARTIN (USA). It’s no surprise to
see Slovenia win a medal at -63kg as they have among their ranks the Rio
2016 Olympic champion (Tina TRSTENJAK) and London 2012 Olympic champion
at this weight (Urska ZOLNIR). MARTIN, who travels further and wider
than most judoka in search of IJF honours, was penalised after 51
seconds in golden score as both judoka were unable to penetrate the
scoreboard in regular time.

-70kg: MATNIYAZOVA leads women’s judo revolution in Uzbekistan

Budapest Grand Prix bronze medallist Gulnoza
MATNIYAZOVA (UZB) defeated Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Anka
POGACNIK (SLO) to fulfil her destiny as the first woman to win IJF gold
for Uzbekistan. The 22-year-old Asian Championships silver medallist is
leading a female revolution for her country and made that point in the
most important setting in her homeland with maximum attention on her
exploits. The world number 28 faced Sofia European Open winner POGACNIK,
24, in the final as the crowd were salivating when their
hero-in-waiting took to the mat to compete for gold. The nervy contest
went the distance with no score and no shidos after four minutes which
meant that golden score would be required to determine a winner.
MATNIYAZOVA delivered the moment she has waited for her entire career as
she found a way past POGACNIK with a makikomi after an additional one
minute and 23 seconds and jumped for joy on the middle of the mat after
being awarded the gold medal-winning score.

In the first semi-final MATNIYAZOVA showed why she was
the top seed as she sent 21-year-old Aelita CHSHERBAKOVA (KAZ) up and
over with a breathtaking uchi-mata after 52 seconds for ippon and one of
the most spectacular scores of the competition. In the second
semi-final Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Anka POGACNIK (SLO) pinned
down 23-year-old Iana DIBRINA (RUS) with a kuzure-kami-shiho-gatame for
20 seconds for ippon and a place her first Grand Prix final.

The first bronze medal was claimed by DIBRINA who
showed her lethal ne-waza to topple 21-year-old Vasila ALIBOEVA (UZB)
who has only competed at the Tashkent Grand Prix in 2015 and 2016 on the
IJF stage. With famed French ne-waz specialist Jean-Pierre GILBERT in
the chair for DIBRINA, the young fighter won her first IJF medal with a
performance that her coach will be very proud of. The Russian had
finished seventh at the last two Tyumen Grand Slam events and took that
experience and disappointment with her into today as she seized her
chance to showcase her developing skills in Uzbekistan. DIBRINA, who led
by a yuko, held down ALIBOEVA with a sankaku-gatame for 16 seconds for a
waza-ari as the home judoka escaped but the former soon regained
control on the ground with a mune-gatame for 15 seconds to win by
waza-ari awasette-ippon.

The second bronze medal was captured by CHSHERBAKOVA
who defeated 19-year-old Junior Asian Cup winner Umida SAIDOVA (UZB) in
the opening minute. The Kazakh fighter beat her neighbour to win her
first IJF medal by submitting SAIDOVA with a rapid juji-gatame after 38
seconds.

-73kg: FARMONOV flourishes in Uzbekistan against his teammate

Asian Games bronze medallist Mirzahid FARMONOV (UZB)
had the measure of his younger teammate and heir apparent in Baku Grand
Slam silver medallist Giyosjon BOBOEV (UZB) to win the -73kg title on
Friday. FARMONOV, 28 and BOBOEV, 23, who warmed up together this
morning, matched each other for five minutes and could not be separated.
The Uzbekistan faithful relished seeing two of their judoka in the
final and were always going to appreciate and applaud both men
regardless of the outcome. After 44 seconds of golden score, FARMONOV
scored a waza-ari from an uchi-mata sukashi as Uzbekistan made it a
one-two at -73kg.

In the first semi-final BOBOEV profited from a rookie
mistake by Junior European Championships winner Hidayat HEYDAROV (AZE).
The talented 19-year-old was disqualified for a clear hansoku-make for a
waki-gatame and reluctantly accepted the decision. In the second
semi-final former Tyumen Grand Slam winner Uali KURZHEV (RUS) was pitted
against FARMONOV and the two produced a first-class contest. After
trading yuko scores in five minutes of regulation time, there was not a
winner so the contest moved into golden score. After 35 seconds the
Russian fighter was penalised for passivity to book an all-Uzbek -73kg
final.

The first bronze medal was won by KURZHEV who
dramatically came from behind to defeat Almaty Grand Prix bronze
medallist Yeldos ZHUMAKANOV (KAZ). The Russian was clearly hampered by a
right wrist injury and was fighting to contain his opponent. ZHUMAKANOV
took the lead with a yuko but got caught with 25 seconds remaining as
his tactics were off in the closing minute. KURZHEV still pressed
forward and earned a waza-ari from a ko-soto-gake which decided the
contest after five minutes. The gutsy Russian judoka then stopped to
sign some autographs for young fans before leaving the field of play.
The second bronze medal went to 19-year-old Junior European Cup bronze
medallist Muso SOBIROV (UZB) as HEYDAROV was disqualified in his
previous contest.

-81kg: Teenage ace BOBONOV thrills his home fans

Junior Asian champion Davlat BOBONOV (UZB) underlined
his status as one of his country’s top prospects as he won gold on his
Grand Prix debut. The 19-year-old bested 24-year-old WATANABE Hayato
(JPN) who was also making his Grand Prix debut. WATANABE, who had made
one previous appearance on IJF World Judo Tour at the 2014 Tokyo Grand
Slam – when he beat WANG Ki-Chun (KOR) before losing to Victor PENALBER
(BRA) - was unable to match the gold medal result of his only teammate
in Tashkent in TAKAICHI Kengo (JPN) who claimed -66kg gold on day one.
BOBONOV produced the only score of the contest – a yuko from an
uchi-mata after two minutes – and lived dangerously as he accumulated
three shido penalties and just escaped a fourth in the closing seconds.

BOBONOV (blue) in semi-final action against ISMAYILOV (AZE)

In the first semi-final WATANABE dispatched world
number 195 Arman MAKHAMBETOV (KAZ) with a thunderous ippon at the
halfway point having led by a waza-ari from a drop seoi-nage. In the
second semi-final Prague Junior European Cup bronze medallist Rufat
ISMAYILOV (AZE) fell to home judoka BOBONOV by ippon from a koshi-guruma
which will be played over and over again on highlight reels.

The first bronze medal was won by ISMAYILOV who shaded
22-year-old Afig SAFARLI (AZE) whose best result before today was fifth
at this year’s Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix. ISMAYILOV won the all-Azeri
meeting by a yuko score from a reaching osoto-gari. The second bronze
medal was won by former world silver medallist Srdjan MRVALJEVIC (MNE)
against MAKHAMBETOV. The 32-year-old, who had the day of his life at the
2011 Worlds when he won silver, won his first Grand Prix medal on shido
penalties in a scoreless contest as the Kazakh fighter was penalised
twice while the veteran from Montenegro was only penalised once.